Nikon 60macro 2.8?

I have been playing with my D70 and 60macro inmy IKE housing and I can not seem to get it open to 2.8. I took it out of the housing and its the same thing the widest aperature I get is 3.3. Is this normal for a DSLR? Using this lense?

It goes down all the way to f36. It says it right on the lense 1:2.8. This is a new lense that I have just brought.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Nikon macro lenses, both the 60 and the 105, have a variable aperture depending on how close you are to the subject. You will only get 2.8 if you are at infinity or close to it. When you get closer to the subject the aperture increases without you even touching the camera.

There is a very detailed thread at the Nikonians forum explaining why and how it happens.

Luiz

Am I correct in that this is the "famous" bellows effect?

It is also explained in the manual. This is true of all macro lenses. Nikon happens to calculate the effective aperture for you. I think Canon reports the actual aperture and leaves it to the user to calculate the effective aperture?

Am I correct in that this is the "famous" bellows effect?

Indeed, it's also goes by the title mechanical draw of a lens. All lens are subject to this phenomenon, its up to the manufacturer of the lens to display the efective aperture and not the selected one, Canon and Sigma for one display the user selected aperture and rely on camera metering and/or TTL flash to compensate all fine if your using either one of them, not so if your using manual flash, i've had my share of issue in the intra oral (dental) photography class I give. 1:1 on a sigma/canon say's f:32 but means F:45 <_< but all in all it's not such a big issue since we can now easily monitor our exposure, t'was a huge issue back in the film day.